The Scandal season 4 finale killed off several people… or at least their careers.

Several characters were left with very uncertain futures by the end of Scandal season 4, episode 22, and while the episode failed to live up to “the ultimate showdown” between Rowan and Olivia that ABC was promising, it certainly delivered several surprises.

The episode opens with Papa Pope, now a benefactor of Mellie’s campaign, blackmailing her using photos of some scandalous dirt: Mellie and VP Nichols hooking up, and evidence of Fitz’s involvement with Remington. To keep these revelations under wraps, Papa Pope demands a list of Grand Jurors in David’s B613 case. Why? Because, as we see moments later, he kills 16 people involved with the case — none of whom are characters we’ve met before.

Raging over this latest attack, Olivia declares she wants to handle her own problem for a change. She goes to Marie for help, but mama has no remorse — She accuses her daughter of creating problems so she can elevate herself to solve them. No one else is trying to take down Papa Pope, so why is she bothering? “You need to come back down to this planet where the world doesn’t revolve around you,” Mama Pope advises.

But this verbal attack gives Olivia an idea: Why doesn’t she make other people aware of Papa Pope since he’s always operating invisibly? She and Jake go to the CIA to reveal all of the bad things Rowan has done, and the director of the CIA takes it seriously — she calls a “Code Bravo Alpha 5,” which sounds really important.

Meanwhile, Cyrus goes to Rowan, but that ends up being a big mistake. Papa Pope tells the Chief of Staff that he purposely kept close allies like David alive in the court room. So now, Rowan declares, Cyrus owes him.

Cyrus’s debt to Rowan sets off an unfortunate chain of events. The CIA director meets with Cyrus and tells him she’s livid that B613 has grown to the size it has. She wants to have Rowan arrested to put a stop to all this, but Cyrus, now at the hand of Rowan, says that’s a big mistake.

So instead of putting Rowan in jail, the CIA director puts Olivia and Jake in jail (at Cyrus’ suggestion). To make matters worse, the duo can only get out of prison if they sign documents to have their earlier statements about B613 recanted. Cyrus asked David to get their statements recanted, or else Abby’s life was on the line. Cyrus has basically turned into a second Papa Pope (“If I had a soul, I’d never accomplish a thing,” he tells Abby later about his recent activities).

And now it’s like the B613 case never happened. Papa Pope has won again.

Or has he? Papa Pope calls Olivia to tell his daughter that in light of recent events, the remaining B613 agents and the B613 files have all been eliminated. Olivia got what she wanted! And an exciting bonus: Mama Pope has been released from prison in exchange for keeping quiet about B613.

And Papa Pope is now back to being Eli Pope, he says. He’s working at the Smithsonian and everything is fine! Totally! He’s not passive aggressive at all!

But wait, there’s one more problem: Lizzie purposely “accidentally” tells Fitz that Rowan helped fund Mellie’s campaign, and that she’s responsible for those Grand Jurors being killed.

Back at OP&A, the team is trying to figure out how to get rid of Rowan once and for all. Quinn dreams up one last option: That $2 million from B613 featured earlier in the season could be used against him. No, Huck says, that money could’ve come from anywhere. Anywhere? Olivia wonders. That gives her an idea: Arrest Rowan for embezzling money within the Smithsonian.

Her idea works. Rowan is thrown in jail and is livid, but Olivia doesn’t care because she handled her situation. And with all of his B613 agents dead, he has no one left to save him.

Or does he? It turns out Rowan has one last person working for him: Huck. He was the one who shot the Grand Jurors. Quinn corners him and doesn’t buy his excuse for working with Rowan. She has a gun pointed to his face and threatens to kill him. Sadly we never see the outcome of the scene, and we won’t learn anything further until season 5 in the fall. If Huck survives that situation, he may help Rowan escape jail. He has to, doesn’t he? He appears to be Rowan’s final option.

In the Oval Office, Mellie, Fitz, and Cyrus are toasting to Mellie’s run for Senate. But the evening is spoiled when Fitz tells Mellie he knows about the jurors and the bus. He’s livid, and vows to never let her become President. “We are not a team […] Pack your bags and get out of my house — before I throw you out,” he tells his wife, who he spoke so highly of earlier in the episode (“Her love, her friendship means everything to me. As a team, we’ve never been stronger,” he said earlier).

Mellie leaves. But Fitz isn’t finished yet: He fires Cyrus for all of his Rowan-like actions.

Meanwhile, Olivia invites Jake in to her apartment for a drink, but he declines. His mission protecting Olivia is complete, and admits that he is in love with her, “but you are in love with [Fitz],” he says. He departs with a final piece of advice: “If you want what’s yours, go and take it.”

Later, after Lizzie moves into her new office for her new position as Chief of Staff, Fitz stops by Olivia’s but finds the apartment empty. He heads back to the White House and steps out on the balcony… where Olivia is waiting with her big glass of wine. Surprise! It was corny, but it was so Scandal.

Jake is gone. Mellie is gone. Rowan is in jail. Huck may be dead. Olivia and Fitz are in love again. It was a very memorable finale.

What did you think of the ‘Scandal’ season 4 finale?

Scandal season 5 premieres this fall on ABC. The show will be airing Thursdays at 9 p.m. eastern / pacific as it did during season 4.